MaineHealth unveils a new mobile health van, which will bring health care directly to vulnerable populations such as people who are homeless. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

The new MaineHealth CONNECT outreach van is packed with everything from toothpaste to anxiety medications and hand warmers, an exam table, consultation area, bandages and antibiotics.

It will roll into action on July 1 to serve people who are homeless, a population that often lacks access to consistent medical care because of transportation challenges that keep them from getting to appointments and social barriers that can prevent them from seeking the help they need.

MaineHealth has equipped the van to bring medical care directly to the unhoused. It’s a doctor’s office on wheels, complete with gray vinyl flooring, white cabinets and solar panels to help power the air conditioning. The 2023 Mercedes Sprinter Cargo cost about $260,000.

“We need to shift our care to meet patients where they are,” said Malia Haddock, a MaineHealth psychiatric nurse practitioner and lead physician for the CONNECT program, which provides services for the homeless and those who are vulnerable to becoming homeless.

And if the patient needs a prescription filled but doesn’t have a way to get to the pharmacy, Haddock said they’ll drive the patient to the pharmacy to pick up the medication.

During a news conference to unveil the van on Thursday, Portland Mayor Mark Dion said the program should help homeless residents, who often struggle with mental health conditions and substance use disorder.

“The closer we bring services to the streets, the more effective they become,” Dion said.

The $550,000 program, which serves Greater Portland, is primarily funded by federal dollars through the American Rescue Plan, the coronavirus relief law. The funding is for two years, but MaineHealth officials hope that they can find a permanent source of funding.

Nurse practitioner Malia Haddock inside Maine Health’s new mobile health van, which will be bringing health care directly to vulnerable populations beginning July 1. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Haddock said the van will go to a variety of places, including encampments, the Cumberland County Jail, single-room occupancy housing units, recovery centers and hospitals to help patients as they are being discharged. The van will mostly serve Portland, but can go into neighboring communities when needed.

“We want to make it very easy to access care and treatment,” Haddock said.

Maine and Portland have been working on initiatives to provide shelter and services to the homeless population, including by trying to connect people to help and Housing First programs. In Housing First programs, homeless individuals can get into supported housing facilities, such as single-room occupancy buildings or apartments designed for the homeless population.

MaineHousing’s Point-in-Time count for 2024 showed that there were 2,695 homeless people in Maine, down from 3,272 in 2023. However, state housing officials said the decline in numbers likely doesn’t represent a significant reduction in the homeless population, but instead reflects the end of pandemic relief funds used to stay in hotels as emergency shelters. When that money ran out, people staying in the hotels were no longer counted.

The CONNECT van is an extension of the MaineHealth Preble Street Learning Collaborative, a brick-and-mortar health services center in downtown Portland that helps vulnerable populations.

Dr. Deb Rothenberg, the learning collaborative’s director, said that the CONNECT van should serve about 500 patients per year, and help reduce emergency department visits and hospital admissions by providing preventive care and treatment before health conditions become so acute that they require hospitalization.

An analysis by Harvard Medical Center, which operates The Family Van mobile health clinic in Boston, shows that for every $1 invested in mobile health clinics, it saves the medical system $20.

The CONNECT outreach van, once it begins operating in July, will generally be available 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on weekdays, although there may be times when the van is used outside of those days and times.